Having worked online for almost a decade, I do believe that there is such a thing as accidentally plagiarizing. After all, how many times and/or ways can a subject be written about? At some point, an online writer might find himself writing the same words and ideas that he has read somewhere else – without the intention of copying. But, the road to hell is paved with adverbs good intentions, right?
Then there’s the other side of the coin – other people copying your content. You may think that it won’t happen to you, but believe me, there are so many unscrupulous people out there who would go so low just to make a quick buck. Some may not care about other people copying their work, but I think that if it does happen to you, you just might not like it.
So how do you fight plagiarism – from both sides? Here are three “easy” ways to do so.
List down all your sources/inspiration for every piece you write.
Some of you may already have this habit – good for you! It is so easy to fall into the trap of thinking that your idea is 100 percent original, but we know that we get our inspiration from all sorts of places. For special pieces of content, especially, research is required, and the best way to ensure that you do not end up plagiarizing your sources is that you carefully take note of all of them and cite them in your work.
This is a very basic concept, but also very easily overlooked.
Use plagiarism checkers.
Once you’re done with your work, you can use anti-plagiarism software. There’s a host of them available, some for free, some for a fee. Obviously, the results that you will get will differ depending on the service and whether it is free or not. You can also try contentplagiarismchecker.com, which gives you one free check upon registration.
Whether you’re checking if your work is totally original or you’re checking if someone else has copied your content, these tools will give you a starting point to fight plagiarism.
Stay true.
This is by far the most important thing, as far as I am concerned. Sure, there may be occasional slips – everyone has them, even seasoned journalists. At the end of the day, however, if you are true to yourself and take pride in your work, creating original content is in your blood. You will not have to worry (for the most part) that you copy other people’s work simply because that is not you.
How do you fight plagiarism? Do you have experiences that you want to share?
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